Please explain to me what exactly Clinton did that created jobs and what Bush has / has not done to create jobs?
Well, how about for starters, passing an economic plan that balanced the budget and that would create a surplus. This created an environment where confidence was very high. Manufactuers increased the size of the workforce and everything hummed along quite nicely. We're talking 22 million new jobs over an 8 year period. When he said "It's the economy, stupid" in his campaign, it wasn't an empty promise, but one acted on. (passed without one single republican vote, i might add)
Before 9-11, Bush started in by totally negating the surplus that he was left. He has continued it by allowing this atmosphere of outsourcing everything you can while giving huge tax cuts to the richest segments of our society and not making corporations pay their fair share. Remember the $300 checks we all got in the mail? That wasn't "our money"...all that was is a loan against whatever refund we were going to get when we filed our taxes later that year. It was a PR stunt pure and simple. Then this administration and congress exacerbates the problem by increasing tax cuts to the wealthy, all the while spending like a drunken sailor, increasing the debt of our nation and weakening our financial position to the point where the majority of big player bankers in the world now choose to deal in Euros rather than Dollars, as has been traditional. People are nervous and the consumer confidence numbers continue to show this. When business owners are nervous, they tend not to expand, as we have been seeing lately.
Also, please understand that my position is that Mr. Bush's plan isn't a good one. In fact, many legitimate voices in economics seem to be of the opinion that this isn't a good idea. I would like to see more of a social security plus plan. One where the protections of social security are left in place but where people are encouraged by other incentives to save for their own retirement, and not in some forced way where their options will be limited, but where they will have a base that is secure. This way, they won't be totally screwed because of the whims of the marketplace.
JMO, of course...
Ern
(of the "neither Republican or Democrat" class)